China welcomes participation in rural development

Abuluoha village, China's last village without a road, is connected to the outside world with its new road in Butuo county, Sichuan province as seen in June, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

China welcomes participation by more countries in the Global Development Initiative and is ready to work with the international community to advance exchanges and cooperation on poverty reduction and rural development, Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua said on Tuesday.

He made the remarks while addressing the opening ceremony of the 2021 Global Rural Development Forum in Beijing.

The initiative, which sets out a blueprint for global development and international cooperation, was proposed by President Xi Jinping at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly last month.

China has secured a complete victory in its fight against absolute poverty and met its poverty reduction target set in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to global poverty reduction, said Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

China has always been an active advocate for, powerful promoter of, and important contributor to the undertaking of global poverty reduction and rural development, he said.

Sunday marked the 29th International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which was set by the United Nations in 1993.

The central government adopted the date as China's National Poverty Relief Day in 2014.

China previously hosted the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum in the Chinese capital to mark the date.

The forum was renamed this year to highlight rural development in a nod to China's historic switch of focus from poverty reduction to rural vitalization after it ended domestic poverty last year.

The event's theme this year is "cooperation on global sustainable development: poverty reduction and rural development".

In a message to the forum in 2017, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said targeted poverty reduction strategies, which were central to pulling almost 100 million rural Chinese out of dire poverty between 2012 and last year, were the only way to reach those farthest behind and achieve the ambitious targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The next year, the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly made targeted poverty alleviation part of a resolution aimed at eradicating poverty in rural areas.

Jamshid Kuchkarov, Uzbekistan's deputy prime minister, said in a video speech at this year's forum that his government has always admired and learned from China in curbing poverty and raising living standards.

He said he was not surprised that China's achievements in poverty alleviation have won recognition from the UN.

Kuchkarov said Uzbekistan is studying international experience in poverty relief as it works to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030.

"Obviously one of the main partners in this area has become the People's Republic of China, in particular the International Poverty Reduction Center in China whose advanced experience is widely used in our country. During the short period, significant results have been achieved," he said.

On the sideline of the forum, Uzbekistan's Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Poverty Reduction Center in China.

The document aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in poverty reduction and stipulates that the parties will exchange experiences, opinions and ideas in the area, as well as implement pilot projects in Uzbekistan based on the best Chinese practices.